January 13th, 2011

EXTRA SERVINGS:

. I find his posts both entertaining and enennhtlgiig. I believe the combination off less-than-stellar management practices intersecting with dreamers who never get practical is the root of many crunch until you die situations. Unfortunately game companies continue to hire managers for silly reasons such as they once worked at Blizzard, are friends with someone on the current management team, or because they’re a shameless self-promoting credits-quester (yep, I’ve known a few). Since management cultures aren’t turning around soon, the only way to combat endless crunch is by getting practical.Getting practical means cutting back on the scope and features of the product until you CAN do it with the resources available. Resources available the current staff, working 40 hrs per week to the latest deadline. Creative directors and producers MUST sacrifice some of their sacred cows. Refusal to slaughter and eat the sacred cows is the foremost reason for both endless crunch, game project cancellation and company bankruptcy. If you de-scope the product at least you’ll get SOMETHING launched. If you keep pursuing the hopeless dream there is very real chance the whole thing will collapse before anything is launched.Ask the management you talk with at a game company about the project scope they’ve reduced and the features they’ve cut to get past games out the door, or have already made on the current project. What they say in response will be very enennhtlgiig.